If you are thinking about suicide, or you’re worried about someone else, there is help and there is hope. Call or text 9-8-8 toll free, any time — lines are open 24/7/365. To learn more about 9-8-8 visit their website.

CMHA Nova Scotia Division

SearchClose

CMHA Nova Scotia Division

Find CMHA in your area
Find CMHA in your area
Menu Close
Search

What are you looking for?

You are currently on the:

CMHA National

Visit our provincial websites

CMHA NS proud to announce Olympian Karen Furneaux as Ride Don’t Hide Champion

May 30, 2022

Karen Furneaux is a two-time World Champion in the sport of sprint kayaking, an inducted member into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, and has been named one of the top 15 most successful athletes in Nova Scotia sport history.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Nova Scotia Division [CMHA NS]  is thrilled to  welcome three-time Olympian, Karen Furneaux as our Ride Don’t Hide community champion.

Karen Furneaux is a two-time World Champion in the sport of sprint kayaking, an inducted member into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, and has been named one of the top 15 most successful athletes in Nova Scotia sport history.

Karen is also the author Strong Beauty: Power Up the Champion Within.

In her role as Ride Don’t Hide Community Champion, Karen will build on her work as sport and inclusion co-ordinator for the YWCA Halifax LEAD program to help promote the ties between mental and physical health.

Exercise is recognized as an essential element in building and maintaining mental health. Physical activity is increasingly becoming part of the prescription for the treatment of depression and anxiety. Exercise alone is not a cure, but it does have a positive impact.

Ride Don’t Hide is a virtual, choose-your-own-adventure challenge. To participate, Nova Scotians are encouraged to increase their physical activity by committing to an activity and goal of minutes they will perform the activity during the month of June, while raising funds that support CMHA programs and services across the province.

Want to join Karen? You don’t have to be an Olympian to participate in Ride Don’t Hide, learn more and register here

The goal of Ride Don’t Hide is to increase mental health awareness and support for mental health resources and education.

“We are so thrilled that Karen has agreed to be our Ride Don’t Hide Champion. She shares our values and has been a good friend and ally to CMHA-NS for a while. This is such a logical way to amplify the importance of movement for our mental health.” says Karn Nichols, Executive Director of CMHA-Nova Scotia Division.

“Karen’s commitment to building and strengthening the resilience of our communities through physical activity makes CMHA-NS and RIde Don’t Hide a perfect partnership.”

Through her promotion of Ride Don’t Hide, Karen will also help broaden awareness of CMHA Nova Scotia’s and its key programs, services and supports.

The pandemic has laid bare the deep and long-standing gaps in Nova Scotia’s mental health care system, with one in four Nova Scotians experiencing a mental health challenge, compared to one in five before the onset of COVID 19.

More people than ever before are coming forward to get help, but an overburdened and underfunded system is struggling to meet the rising demand. Nova Scotians are not getting the care they need and deserve.

CMHA Nova Scotia and community-based mental health organizations provide essential programs and services that help prevent crisis and provide support after crisis — but they’re chronically underfunded and need your support.

The programs and services provided by CMHA in Nova Scotia are free to access for all Nova Scotians and support the social determinants of health,  the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes, like employment, housing, social inclusion and access to affordable health services]

Provincially, CMHA delivers At-Work, Peer Support, Bounceback, Thrive, Project H.O.P.E., Asist [Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training], Talk Today and Resilient Minds [coming soon].  Our branches in Halifax-Dartmouth, Colchester-East Hants and Southwest Nova deliver a range of social and education programs and services to Nova Scotians in their respective communities.

To learn more about CMHA’s programs and services, visit: https://novascotia.cmha.ca/

 

Skip to content